This guy has $400 a month budget, can he afford a car period? If that is free and clear of living expenses then it may be OK, but if not the answer is maybe not.
Insurance, road tax etc may chew a big hole in that $400.
If he has to get things fixed at a garage the answer is probably not.
We have wandered away from the original question.

 

Can say "If you have to ask then probably not."

 

Am using "OEM tire sizes" Front: 225/40-18 Rear: 255/35-19. Looks, grabs, rides great!

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Thanks for getting us back on track. It is fairly common on this forum for us to digress from the originator's inquiry. Having said that, I would agree with your feedback above. A monthly net income of $400 would probably be a stretch for owning a Crossfire.

 

He definitely can't.

 

I love my car, and have owned three Crossfires. My second car was my only car for five years and it performed wonderfully.

But fact is, tires alone for these cars will break you. For $440 I bought a set of tires for my Ford Ranger that now have 21,000 miles on them. They appear to be ready to go another 30,000 miles at least.

A set of tires for my Crossfire ran me just under $800 - cheapest Hankooks I could find. If I drive the car like a senile old lady, I might get 33,000 out of them. But I don't, so I figure maybe 20,000.

Do not buy a Crossfire at this time, wait till later in life when you can afford to dump money into a car. For now, you'd be way better off with any of a number of other vehicles. Again, I LOVE my Crossfire and plan to have a fourth one sometime, but in no way am I doing to tell YOU to do so.

Yer welcome!

 

Don't be so negative, you can score a set of stock size Barums for a touch over $450 from Discount Tire.


Other than that in 5 years mine has not cost any more than my other cars for maintenance and the major outside expense was to replace the stock radio with a Bluetooth head unit and I started with one that had over 120k miles on the clock.


Keep in mind that the same powertrain was used in tens of thousands of Mercedes (essentially anything that is a -320) and there is a thriving aftermarket.


Key is to buy the best one you can find and just enjoy it. Parts are available from the big three. Maintenance is no more difficult than any car, only exception is 8 quarts of 0w-40 Mobil 1 (available at Walmart often on sale). All the documentation you would ever need is available here for download.


Or get a Honda.

 

Negative? Being practical is not negative.

 

Thank for you advice, after asking, my parents said they would help if the car needed repairs

 

Look after them, they are the only ones you have.

 

No. You should not.

This is not a reflection on the quality of the car but rather an objective answer to your question tailored to your life experience.

It is one thing to spend $3,000 found down the lint of your pocket on a repair for a $50,000 car and quite another to spend $3,000 hard earned dollars (whether yours or your parent's) on a $2,500 car. The cost of parts and service does not go down with the diminished value but the likelihood of needing them goes up.

Wait.

Miata, Prius, anything Toyota, most Nissans would all be better starter cars. Maybe get a get a cool Subaru or Jeep Wrangler. The sophisticated offerings of a Crossfire are better savored after a few lessor cars. You will get 90% of what a first car should be in many other cars at 400% less potential grief and stress. And, how neat it would be to be independent and not have to call on the parents to pay for repairs.

I have personally known the grief of spending more than a car was worth just so I could sell it knowing I would not recoup that expenditure but rather hoping to be saving what the next one would be.

 

Ok you guys win, thank you for the advice, I kind of knew for a while that parts and repair s would be a major issue with this car, I just hoped it would not be as expensive as you guys have said it would be. What good starter cars do you know of that can generally be found for under 5,000 dollars and are not completely boring?

 

It really depends on what you find important.

I like convertibles so I would recommend a Miata. They are also great fun, relatively economical and dependable. Parts are easy to find new or used and are almost given away. Things are easy to get to and simple. Hard to beat.

My daughter recently had me sell hers to get a Subaru. She could not be more pleased preferring its capacity and statement it makes. They are very well made but not as cheap to buy as I would have expected.

Old grandmother cast off Nissans and Toyotas were what I suggested for a friend whose main concern was just a troublefree way to get places.

Prius makes a statement and offers its own fun.

 

$5k for a coupe with 135k miles is way too much. Even just that reason is good enough to not to buy that car.
I purchased my 05 convertible with about 90k miles on it for about $6k. I cant remember the exact amount.

I had Mazda, Mercury, Ford, Crossfire, Mercedes cars until now and I always ended up spending more money on repairs for the ones that were not mercedes. Yes you will probably spend a lot if something goes wrong, but it doesnt go wrong as easily. On the other hand for the other brands I counted, I was always spending money. Little amounts but repairing something all the freaking time.

I used to get little below 300miles per tank when I was driving like nuts but now I get about 370miles which means about 25mpg if I am not mistaken.

Get a crossfire/ mercedes, but not the one that you are looking at right now!

 

Is a thread over on the AACA forum about "Which one do you most regret missing". Some interesting cars people just did not buy.